Once again, many thanks for all the advice.

Simon - you make a very interesting point about the zeitgeist of the work. In my initial post I failed to mention that the novel is set in the world of financial services. Pretty dull at the time of writing, perhaps, but it has since become the centre of the universe for all the wrong reasons.

I also declined to mention that I re-wrote pieces of the script late last year to bring the credit crunch and other aspects into play and sent the agent the rewrite. To date, six months later, I have had no feedback.

SB - I do have a contract with the agent, but believe that I have strong grounds to terminate.

Cherys - I have recently spoken to the author I referred to and outlined my issues. He has offered to pass the script on to his agent. There are obviously no guarantees, but at least it's a possibility. However, I'm not sure how prudent it would be to go down this road whilst under contract to another agent.

Thanks again everyone for your support.

However, I'm not sure how prudent it would be to go down this road whilst under contract to another agent.

You can approach another agent while still being signed to another, so long as you are honest about the situation. Tell them you are in the process of terminating the contract and looking for someone else to represent you. (it's like applying for jobs, while still being employed by another firm). Obviously they can't sign you up while you are still with the other agent, but it shouldn't stop you from testing the water.


- NaomiM

Interesting, Naomi - I suppose the risk of that would be word getting back to your contracted agent and getting a bad name - but then, if things are so bad that a writer is looking for respresentation elsewhere, the worst that can happen is that the original party terminates the agreement...which sounds like the likely scenario anyway.

I must say, I hadn't realised how common this was until joining WW.

S

Mmm, this sounds horribly familiar and depressing. Your agent ought not to be behaving like this, it isn't polite or professional. I think a frank and honest exchange of views is in order.

Well it would be a quiet word. Obviously one doesn't go round bad mouthing one's agent to another agent.

When it comes to moving on from one agent to another, check your contract. Simple as that. If you make a deal, your old agent could make things very complicated by demanding a cut because you A) didn't wait the agreed time after terminating the contract B) your next agent has made a deal with an editor that agent 1 already approached.

If you need to cut your ties, your first port of call is the person who was decent enough to read your script, believe in your work, and spend a good deal of time trying to sell that work.

Chances are, he/she will understand your frustrations and either come up with a suitable plan of action, or agree to go separate ways.

But if you decide to go behind their back, bear in mind, you're dealing with a professional who deals with the fine print of contracts for a living.

Colin M

ps - my agent has been pitching my first novel for two years, and I still have faith in her - mainly because she's still got faith in me.

Sorry if I'm repeating anything anyone else has said...

Agents don't normally poach off each other, so they would normally ask you to have given notice to the previous one, before they'd talk seriously about taking you on, but I imagine there can be a certain amount of diplomatic indicating, before that, if you see what I mean. But once you're in the notice period, you're free to start searching. Colin's absolutely right, you need to be sure what the setup is in your contract, and the Society of Authors will advise.

It does sound as if your agent has run out of places to submit One. On the one hand he obviously really did love it, on the other, he may be losing faith in the possibility of it selling, even if he hasn't lost faith in it being a good book, if you see what I mean. But what you don't know is how many people have seen it, which you need to. Agents do vary how long they're prepared to go on trying - i.e. how far down the list of size of publisher and size of advance. (FWIW, for my first novel, when I said to my agent, 'What happens if none of the first six bite?' she said, 'We'll try the next. And the next.' - i.e. 18 in all). Agents do tend to be bouncy, positive people, and some of them are absolutely hopeless at getting on with it, when they have to give un-bouncy, negative news.

It sounds as if you need a state-of-the-nation conversation with this guy. Does he see any future for either of the books? Indeed, does he see any future for your relationship? It's an incredibly hard conversation to have, but at the moment, if he's not sending One out, and not helping you to change it, nor to get Two into shape, then you could say he isn't really being an agent anyway. I know it feels as if any agent is better than no agent, but it isn't true if having an agent who isn't doing anything means that nothing's being done.

As Colin also says, you need chapter and verse on where One went out. If it's been submitted fairly widely, You may find it works better to try to get a new agent with Two (or even Three, if you've got that on the horizon) than with One, which they'll know they've got a pretty small chance of selling now: they may very well be interested in trying to sell it further down the line - a surprising number of writers' 'second' book was actually their first. And it's certainly true that the smaller and indie publishers are more open to un-agented submissions, either in the sense that your agent has said, 'Okay, it's not something I can handle, but you're welcomd to go ahead', or in the sense that you've ceased to have an agent.

<Added>

Meant to say, if you do decide that you'd like to approach small publishers directly, I really, really wouldn't go behind the agents' back. It's a small trade, and things get round. But if the agent is definitely saying he's got nowhere else to send it, and you know of some who'd be worth a try, then he may well be perfectly happy for you to - I can think of a couple of WWers who've done that.

And very best of luck with it all - it's a horrid situation to be in, but I do know quite a few people who've been in similar ones, and it has all come out in the wash in the end.

Accie, delighted you have sent off the email, and good luck with this. No, waiting was not going to make it any better, I've had a similar experience and it just drags on and on.

All the best. Keep us informed of your progress.